GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - Thirty Bales, a new restaurant in downtown Hopkins, has revived an obscure cooking technique that is raising eyebrows, drawing crowds and earning early rave reviews – hay roasting.
When consulting chef Beth Fisher discovered the hay roasting method while researching ideas for the menu, she couldn’t resist how well it played off the restaurant’s name and the flavor it infused in the food.
Fisher and mixologist Caroline Glawe joined KARE 11 in studio to share more about this unique cooking technique, and how the restaurant’s unusual name served as inspiration for their made-from-scratch, locally inspired menu.
Hay-Roasted Chicken
Recipe by Beth Fisher
3 - 4# Chicken
2 T Sea Salt
6 C Hay (alfalfa)*
2 sheets Parchment Paper
1 qt Warm Water
1. Rub chicken with sea salt.
2. Rinse hay under warm water.
3. Place hay and 1 quart warm water in the bottom of 8 qt. roasting pan with tight fitting lid.
4. Lay one sheet of parchment over hay. Place salted chicken onto parchment. Lay the other piece of parchment over chicken and cover tightly with lid.
5. Bake in 400˚F oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven and leave covered for half an hour – we want the chicken to keep steeping/steaming in the hay aroma while cooling down.
6. Remove chicken from pan. Strain any remaining liquid the pan might have – we will use in our sauces.
7. Discard hay.
*To find hay, check with your favorite meat purveyor at your local farmer’s market.
Learn more on the restaurant's website.